TrueStoryBob
I would volunteer for a campaign (or even just donate) in a heartbeat… but it’s unethical… I’m one of our nation’s poor, underpaid and overworked local news media staffers. To be clear, I’m not a journalist, but the rules preventing any appearance of impropriety apply to me as well. I can’t give up my job to work pro bono on campaigns (and it’s dubious for me to donate). I can’t have the journalists I work with appear to have any kind of hand on this (or any) election.
I beg you, please vote for Harris/Walz… that’s my personal opinion which does not reflect the stance or opinions of my employer or any of our clients/sponsors… which include the Donald Trump for President 2024 campaign and it’s affiliated PAC’s (honestly it’s wild having the fucking Trump campaign being both the reason I cannot but barely afford my bills and the thing getting me close to paying them). Seriously, the years 2016 to 2020 were a living hell for us working in local news. Fear of constant threats if we depicted “dear leader” in any light other than brilliant magnificence. How dare we report on the things Trump said and did if it looked bad in any way. Seriously… it was the most stressed I’ve been in my entire life and I’m a queer atheist living in the deep south. Also, no, I’m not moving… all my stuff and most of my friends are here.
I hate living in a swing state. The campaign ads I’ve gotten this year are fucking insane. I keep telling myself “it’ll be over soon.” Also and yes, yes, yes, I voted for harm reduction/prevention… can I get an early break from all the mailers, texts, emails, and ads?
My elderly dad called me a few years ago to let me know that we’d have to change up all the security stuff for our family phone plan because he gotten scammed. He said he got a call from someone claiming to be a representative of the phone company who said they’d like to lower our monthly bill. I stopped him and said “well, that should have been your first clue… when in the last decade of us using them has that ever happened? When was the last time our bill went down instead of up?”
Sure, the scams like pig butchering look dumb from the outside, but never think shit like this can’t happen to you. There’s TONs of ways scammers can trick you, but usually they’ll seek out vulnerable people. Sure the gullible are vulnerable, but just because you’re not vulnerable right now, doesn’t mean you won’t be at some point in the future. Desperation can make scholars into fools.
My first thought also. I get people not wanting to get the police involved (i.e. some officers may share the sibling and father’s sentiment), but this is definitely a situation where authorities should be contacted. This really feels like we’re going to hear in like two months a local TV reporter say the words: “from a FOI request, we’ve learned that the two suspects were on police radar for months.”
